When the California Republican delegation lands in Cleveland this week ahead of the party’s nominating convention, they’ll head more than an hour west to the Kalahari Water Park Resort in Sandusky, where they were assigned lodging by the Republican National Committee.

After that, most delegates will get on a bus and take another hour-long ride back into Cleveland to do party work on the convention floor.

It’s a round trip of about 120 miles. Each day. For four days.

The distance is unintentionally symbolic. California’s delegation might represent the Republican party’s best access to biggest electoral prize in November (55 Electoral College votes), but it’s a bit player in the national GOP.

“If there was a need for any additional affirmation about how unimportant California is to the national Republican leadership,” said Dan Schnur, a longtime political consultant in California and a political analyst at USC, “all one has to do is look at a map and see where Sandusky is to Cleveland.”

California hasn’t made an electoral decision in favor of a Republican presidential candidate since 1988, when the state rallied for President George H.W. Bush over Michael Dukakis. In the six elections since, Republicans have lost California by double digits, the last two by more than 23 points.

California also hasn’t elected a U.S. Senator since Pete Wilson stepped down in 1991 to become governor. And when Sen. Barbara Boxer said last year that she wouldn’t seek re-election, Republicans couldn’t even get a candidate into the finals, meaning the state in November will choose between two Democrats to fill her seat.

Even in the U.S. House of Representatives, where Republicans hold a 60 seat advantage, California’s delegation is 72 percent Democrat.

Erik Laykin, a delegate heading to Cleveland, said one word came to mind when he pondered the California GOP’s role in the recent primary, and its likely role in November.

“Neutered,” he said.

“But the fight must go on.”

Developing young talent

The strain between the state GOP and the national GOP plays out in local politics as well.

California Republican Party Chairman Jim Brulte is leading his party’s fight for down-ticket races. Grooming strong candidates for state legislative seats, county board seats and city councils is like grooming a farm system in baseball’s minor leagues, with a line of players ready to step up to the big leagues as stars in bigger political roles leave the game.

The goal in California is to develop young talent that’s also racially and ethnically diverse.

But Brulte said the national GOP’s slow, seemingly reluctant response to demographic change hurts his party in California.

“Demographics don’t have to be destiny, but the political party leaders for the last decade haven’t paid much attention to demographic trends. And they are fairly overwhelming today,” Brulte said.

“The white population is below 40 percent (in California) and the largest population is Latino.

“As a party leader, I can say ‘woe is me’ or I can lead the party and focus on where we can win elections.”

Brulte said Southern California candidates like Young Kim, the first Korean-American elected in Orange County for an assembly seat, and Ling Ling Chang — who is running for the state senate seat that used to be occupied by Bob Huff and spans portions of Orange, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties —are critical to reversing the top-of-the-ticket misfortune that has befallen his party.

Mark Vafiades, Los Angeles County Republican chairman, said the national party is limited in what it can do to affect statewide races. Political affiliation can be shaped by personalities of political leaders, and the personalities that have struck a chord with the national GOP in recent years — Sarah Palin, Donald Trump — haven’t resonated as strongly with potential Republican voters in California.

“It’s a lot easier if there is a Republican who gets into a position of prominence, (who) can sell the party to voters,” Vafiades said.

A wedge issue separating the national GOP from the state GOP is immigration.

Trump’s plan to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants and build a wall along the border and make Mexico pay for it — along with his well-known description of many Mexican immigrants as being “rapists” who bring drugs and crime to this country — has helped him become the current leader of the national GOP.

And immigration will be a theme this week.

Sabine Durden, of Moreno Valley, is slated to speak in Cleveland. She’s been a well-known critic of illegal immigration since her son was killed by an undocumented immigrant in 2012, and she’s testified on the issue before Congress. She’s also known for writing a scathing letter to President Barack Obama in which she asked: “Why do you continue to invite ILLEGAL ALIENS into the White House?”

While Durden’s view on immigration plays well with the national GOP — in June Pew Research polling found that about 67 percent of GOP voters nationally favor the wall and Trump’s stand on deporting undocumented immigrants — it’s not as popular in California, a state with more than 100 elected Latino Republicans. Overall, 72 percent of Latinos in California hold a negative view of Trump, according to a June poll by Fox News.

Eric Bauman, vice chairman of the California Democratic Party, said by favoring “dog whistle” terms like “illegal alien,” and stereotyping of Latinos, the national GOP is pushing California even further out of reach for Republicans.

“When (Trump) entered the race and began bashing immigrants and building a wall — instead of most of his opponents trying to shut him down, they jumped on the bandwagon,” Bauman said. “As we’ve seen in California from Prop 187 and Arizona’s SB1070, that (attitude) alienates the largest ethnic group in American politics — and in California especially.”

California role

Brulte said the distance for the delegation to the convention has nothing to do with California not voting Republican in the presidential election since 1988.

Instead, as the largest delegation, space was limited to house the 172 delegates, along with 169 alternates in one location. He said that the delegation wanted to stay at the same place as well and the water park resort was a good option.

California will also have some speaking slots at the convention, with one of the highest-profile members being House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield.

Tim Clark, Trump’s state campaign director, said the convention is also tacking away from some traditional templates by employing a list of celebrities and businesspeople from California to carry the Trump message.

They include PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, soap opera actress Kimberlin Brown and real estate mogul Tom Barrack — who hosted a fund-raiser for Trump before the June 7 primary and attended the pricey Trump-RNC fund-raiser in Bel Air on Thursday.

He said few delegates will notice the absence of both former Bush presidents, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney — all of whom have said they either can’t appear at the convention or won’t endorse Trump.

“Those who have chosen to stay away, well, the net result is they’ll hurt their own brand among the party faithful,” Clark said.

And he noted that last month’s California primary was one of Trump’s biggest victories; he won 74.8 percent of the GOP vote. Clark said California will be one of the most supportive contingents in Cleveland.

Laykin said he expects to see Trump emerge from the convention with a bounce and, with Friday’s selection of Mike Pence as his vice presidential pick, he believes people will start giving the ticket a second look.

Even if that means California will go back to doing the one thing it usually does to make a splash in general elections, according to Pat Brown Institute Executive Director Raphael Sonenshein.

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